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Forum:Guide to making a custom signature
This Forum is the property of the community. Its purpose is to give information to those that would, otherwise, have to ask for it. Since the information is a collection of facts, any edits from any user may be corrected, by any user, for the clarity of knowledge. General Information Custom signatures leave lots of code on forum or talk pages. For this reason, it is customary to put a signature on a /sig user page and "refer' to that page in your special preferences. You can create a /sig page by going to your user profile (not your talk page) and adding /sig at the end of your address bar (enter) and create the page. This allows you to create, edit and change your signature using the methods below. Since you are just referring (short-cutting) to that page, your signatures will change wherever you used the reference. To make multiple signatures to refer to, you can make multiple /sig2 pages. Direct picture method This is the easiest method. Other methods are more complex and use more coding. First get a picture you like: ---- Find a picture and add text that represents your user name to the picture with a program. *A image capture program may help getting the picture. Srip32 is a free one. *If you don't have a decent image editing program, to add text, there are several free ones listed here. Save the new pic of your custom signature to a short version of your user name and upload the pic to your /sig page. Re-size it if it's bigger than normal text: ---- Edit your /sig page, then press the source button and make your photo looks like this in the source: *Note: keep the suffix of the pic the same if it's not a .jpg (it could be .png, .gif, etc.) This adjusts the pixel size of your photo. You will probably have to adjust the number until your signature looks right. Just keep previewing and you can add text, beside it, to compare. Link it to your profile or talk page: ---- You want to link the signature to your profile or talk page: * * * * **Note: You must use underscores instead of spaces, if any, in your user name. The above are ways to link the signature to your profile or talk page, respectively. The first set is with re-sizing. This should be the only thing on the page, remove anything else before you publish. Refer to it with your preference page: ---- Add the following: (again with underscores instead of spaces, if any, in Your user name) To your Special:Preferences page (check the Custom Signature box). Test it: ---- Edit on your talk page: type ~~~~ and preview then click it (still in preview) to see if it's linking to your profile correctly. Example (by Raz) Multiple picture method You can make multiple links with multiple pictures and string them together for a signature. It is the same as above but involves redoing the links to different user pages. Additional links: ---- You may add additional links to your signature by adding icons (more pics) to serve as separate links. Simply add a new pic (to your /sig page) to represent the link and link it to something. *Note: square icons work best for any re-sizing (if needed). An example of signature (source) page that has the signature plus icon links: This would give: The signature pic linked to your profile, Icon_A linked to your talk page, Icon_B linked to your contributions page, and Icon_C linked to your blog page Example (by Raz) Easy switching between multiple sigs You can use a page as a "middle man" to switch between /sig and /sig2 pages. Create a user page /sig_ref and add the following to the source: This is a reference(shortcut) to your /sig page. In your Special:Preferences page you add instead of the above. This is a shortcut to the shortcut. You can then change the /sig to /sig2 in your /sig_ref page without changing your special preferences. Code method *Note: This section is not totally complete but waldo2k has given enough info to use this technique (special thanks). waldo2000 The above is a sample of a purely code based signature. In this case border states that we would like a border around our text, :solid being the style of border, 2px being the width (In pixels), ivory is the color of the border this can be inter changed with a HEX value. white-space:nowrap; This bit I don't know anything about, my apologies. After thinking about it I assume it prevents the text from wrapping due to length. background states that we are now making the background color for our text, #990000 Is a HEX value that can be replaced with a color name. Closes your previously opened two span tags, you will want to put your text in before these two tags. To modify the color of your text use the HTML font format YOUR TEXT HERE To tweak your sig I suggest using an empty talk page (preferably yours and preview is your friend). Then you go to user preferences and paste your signature into the signature box and check the Custom Signature option. Accepted color names Color Picker Color Mixer Examples waldo2000 waldo2000 Plumb Pie Plumb Pie Color My Text Just Like This. Color My Text Just Like This. No Border No Border Contributions ---- Special thanks to for providing the reference method on his talk page. waldo2000 The Evil Dr. F contributed (don't let him tell you different) Ask for help Where is the page where all the rules of what a sig can and cannot be? 01:46, March 23, 2011 (UTC) The policy on sigs is the only page I know of. 08:39, March 23, 2011 (UTC) sigs in preferences need to be /sigref otherwise wikia just includes content of /sig page wholesale. 22:11, April 21, 2013 (UTC) Thanks, I may change it to reflect that. 16:06, October 19, 2015 (UTC)